


beginnings

by infernum



Series: there’s lessons you learn, bridges you burn [5]
Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: (sort of. they’re both awful at communication but it works), F/M, Light Angst, Love Confessions, Morning After, Pet Names, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, also some minor family background on Beth, idk what tags to use so i’m done, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-04-05 04:17:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19040974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infernum/pseuds/infernum
Summary: A smile is creeping up his lips, stretching across his cheeks and he looks so beautiful it makes Beth’s heart skip a beat; her breath catches in her throat and she coughs to cover the choked out noise she makes.“I don’t mind eating out here again, ma,” and really, she should have known he would say something like that—there’s nothing like a good innuendo to make him light up like that.





	beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> So they've finally sort of started communication their feelings! It's rocky at best, but at least it's finally getting somewhere! It's difficult to write Rio as anything except a petty asshole who enjoys making Beth come until she can barely stand up straight, so please be gentle with me with his whole I Feel Things Too mini moment. I also lack the ability to express emotion so it's hard to write it which, in hindsight, I should have known not to attempt this whole shebang. Oh well, lessons learned and all that.
> 
> I think I'm one of the few that doesn't have much to complain about how the finale went. Yes, it was a bit rushed, and slightly upsetting that they wrote that finale without knowing if there would be a third season and would have left is hanging like that, but since we ARE getting a third season I'm so fucking ready for savage!Rio to tear Beth’s world apart. It's just like he said: if you wanna be the king, you gotta kill the thing. Well, the king ain't dead and he's pissed as fuck, and I am READY.
> 
> Now, enjoy!!

Hot air is fanning across her shoulder and the back of her neck, and the sun is shining on her face, causing white and yellow and orange spots dance across her closed eyes. There’s something light and warm skimming along her skin, tracing the stretch marks on her torso and it’s paying extra attention to the dark burn mark from ironing three years ago. The combination of all this gentle attention is making Beth dizzy with confusion and neediness—it’s been a long time since she’s felt so doted on; it’s a shame she can’t remember why she’s aching so much, why a mattress is so bumpy and why she would ever even consider laying on it, or who the hell is spooning her on said uncomfortable mattress.

“‘Sup, sleeping beauty,” a voice murmurs. Ah, yes. Rio. It sounds like he’s just woken up himself not too long ago. “Was wonderin’ when you’d join the land of the living again.”

Her eyes snap open at that. The sun is low which means it’s later than four, which means it’s past the kids pick up time from school. Which means she’s late and they’re either still waiting around or they called Dean, so now he has another load of ammunition like forgetting school pick ups on his list of why she’s a bad mother.

She scrambles off the sofa, momentarily wondering why she ever purchased such an uncomfortable piece of furniture before remembering it was one of Dean’s buys, and nearly kicks Rio on the floor in the process. She can’t find her bra but she can just throw on her floral button-up shirt, that’s fine—

“Shirt’s ruined, ma,” Rio is smirking, leaning back on the sofa with his arms extended along the back, leering at her naked body like he hasn’t had the chance to the past however many hours it’s been. “No worries about the kids, babe. Texted your sis off your phone asking her to pick them up for dinner at hers.“

She should probably be more concerned about the fact he had unlocked her phone in order to text Annie, but the use of the word ‘babe’ is what makes her pause instead. When had they graduated into actual, normal pet names? Had he decided this before, during, or after he fucked her silly?

As usual, he seems to read her mind.

“Called me babe in your sleep, _babe_. S’cute. Could be our thing, right? Maybe babe could be our always?” And he’s caught her off guard again. She recognises it off one of those cheesy romance novels, the ones aimed at teenagers, and she thinks she remembers the book involving cancer—which isn’t really kid friendly—but she can’t judge him for knowing it considering she also knows it. That doesn’t make it any less enjoyable to make him squirm about that bit of knowledge he has. 

“Oh? Are we going to start saying ‘okay’ to each other as well?” 

A full, deep bellied laugh she hasn’t heard before bursts out from him; his smile is contagious, and it turns her half asleep smirk into a smile.

“Got a teenage niece obsessed with those sorts of books.” Beth files that away, something to examine and question at a later date. “I took her to see the movie, too, if you wanna start on that.”

It’s strange seeing him like this. Having him naked on her sofa is, obviously, not a regular occurrence, or even something that has occurred at all before, even if the sex is becoming to be an expectation of their meetings now. She’s talking about how calm and quiet he is, how he’s so content and unguarded. Something has changed in him and she doesn’t like that she doesn’t know what it is exactly, but she can’t complain when he’s looking at her the way he is. She can’t quite put her finger on what the look means underneath it all, but he looks so young and innocent, so carefree and, dare she say it, adoring.

The smile on her face turns sour as she thinks about this. Maybe she can’t put her finger on it because it’s a small part of of a big plan for him. Maybe it’s another one of his attempts to get under her skin, bury himself inside of her and rot her from the inside out.

Rio’s brows furrow and his bottom lip gets sucked in between his teeth, the corners of his mouth turn down slightly, and he adjusts himself on the sofa so he isn’t as exposed. Those tanned arms cross over his chest, highlighting just how much muscle is under the leanness of them. 

“You gonna send me packing again, Elizabeth?” It’s barely a mumble, the words jumbled together, and she wouldn’t have understood what he had said if it wasn’t for the fact that all her attention is on him. 

“I don’t know,” she pauses, takes a deep breath in. “Do you want me to?”

The truth is that she doesn’t want to, not after her confession of what she wants them to be, but it’s so hot and cold with them and she’s never been any good at gauging how someone feels about her. She didn’t even know that Dean’s mom hated her with an undying passion until five years into their marriage at a BBQ. Dean’s mother had gotten too tipsy, tiptoeing into drunk territory, and had announced in front of everyone that Beth was not good enough for her handsome and ambitious son.

Beth had organised the big family BBQ, trying to bring both their families together in the hopes for the Big Family she had always wanted. While her and Annie hadn’t had an awful childhood compared to some, it hadn’t been perfect either—their mother was there but not really there, never present and slept a lot because of her depression through the years, and their father led the life of patriarchal breadwinner and secretly wished he had a son to take under his wing. He never explicitly said it but it was made clear through his attempts at making the two of them watch football or baseball games, or the few times he had alluded at boys' names he had thought of for them before they were born. It was the passive sort of discontent, not so much passive aggressive, but just enough to work its way under her skin and fester deep inside of her.

Sometimes he would look at Beth and her prowess at baking, sewing, nurturing, all the stereotypically feminine activities, and she could swear there was a hint of resentment settling deep in his eyes, growing like a weed does in an unkept garden.

Annie fared somewhat better in their father’s eyes. She had always taken to the more boyish activities better than Beth ever could and she knew how to talk shop with the boys too—her ability to fit in wherever she was has always made Beth a little jealous, but she would never admit that. Perhaps if their father could see her now, see how she can fight with the big boys better than he ever could, maybe he would be proud and look at her like he loved her unconditionally.

Rio still hasn’t answered her. He’s looking out the living room window, eyes glazed over, working his jaw side to side like he has something to say but he can’t get the words out. It’s remarkably different to how he was not even two minutes ago.

“You don’t have to.” Her voice breaks the silence, snaps it in half, and Rio’s head whips around to face her. “I mean, if the kids are at Annie’s then I, um, I’ll be making dinner soon. I’ve had nothing to eat, and it’s getting to dinnertime, and I don’t know if you’ve had any food today, but you can have some food—some dinner—if you want—” she’s rambling now, she knows she is, so she cuts herself off because she can feel her cheeks heating up, and Rio is looking at her like he did earlier when she was on his lap and riding him like she had nothing left to lose.

A smile is creeping up his lips, stretching across his cheeks and he looks so beautiful it makes Beth’s heart skip a beat; her breath catches in her throat and she coughs to cover the choked out noise she makes. 

“I don’t mind eating out here again, ma,” and really, she should have known he would say something like that—there’s nothing like a good innuendo to make him light up like that. 

She grabs his shirt off the floor and slips it over her head before she grabs her underwear. 

“Fantastic.” He’s watching her walk across the room into the kitchen. She can feel his eyes on her. “Then you can get some pants on and help me make dinner.”

She has no idea what to make or even what food is in the fridge, but she's always been good at coming up with things on the spot. It's what got her into this crime life to begin with. It's also what saved hers, Ruby's and Annie's lives, back when she only knew him as Scary Gang Man That Broke Into My House, before he graduated to gang friend and finally moved into Rio territory. The whole Christopher thing has thrown her and she can't think of that as his name—it sounds too biblical and saint like for someone who has webs that span across the underbelly of society, deep into the criminal underworld he fits so well into.

He's standing behind her as she peeks into the fridge, figuring out what meal she can make, and he's right up behind her. He has his chin hooked over the top of her shoulder, hands on her hips, and she can feel the denim of his jeans scratching at the backs of her thighs. Rio shifts his head and presses a chaste kiss to the junction of her neck and shoulder and runs his hands up and down her waist, bunching his shirt up her hips as he does so, sending shivers up her spine and goosebumps along her skin. 

She hears him take in a breath, feels his chest expand with the intake of oxygen on her back. "I—" he cuts himself off and she can hear his teeth grinding together. "So, you want _us_ to make dinner. Together."

She can tell it wasn't what he was originally going to say so she doesn't respond. If she waits him out, she knows he'll eventually say what he wanted to.

They both stand there with the refrigerator door still open, the cold air seeping into their bones, until the inside light turns off and Rio shifts on his feet like the light going out has turned a light on in his head.

"There could be an us, Elizabeth. I want there to be. Y'don't even know how much I want it." The words aren't whispered—he boldly states them, each word enunciated and thought out carefully before said, and Beth knows he means it. She thinks a part of her knew when he followed her into the bathroom at the bar, or maybe when he trailed his little finger so gently across her face after he had beaten Dean and tied him up. Maybe she knew there was a chance at it when he told her to tell the F.B.I. that he was hitting it with that dirty grin on his face but there was something lurking behind his eyes that said something else.

Beth turns in his arms, closing the refrigerator door as she does, and brings her arms up to rest her hands on his shoulders. Her fingers graze over the bandage on his shoulder and he shudders slightly, pressing his forehead against hers.

"Okay, babe."

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you guys think!! Criticism is accepted but only if it's constructive. I accept any and all types of praise because I am a major slut for praise.


End file.
